The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) is Stuart Gordon's horror film, free to watch online on iFILM. Spain at the height of the Inquisition: Grand Inquisitor Torquemada enforces terror in the name of God, and no one is safe from his certainty.

Maria, a young woman, is seized as a witch for nothing more than crying out at the public whipping of a child. Her husband Antonio races to save her, but Torquemada lusts after his prisoner and reshapes that desire into torture. What follows is dungeons, the rack, the stake, and the swinging blade Poe described. Lance Henriksen plays Torquemada, with Oliver Reed and Jeffrey Combs rounding out the cast.

Gordon, the man behind the cult favorite Re-Animator, treats Poe loosely, building a grim baroque fable of cruelty that never flinches from blood or bodily horror. It's for fans of old-school horror built with real sets instead of pixels. Stream The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) online on iFILM.